5.5, 3.75, and 2 Years!

It's time for a kiddo update!  These three kids keep me busy... I have no idea what we are going to do when #4 arrives later this month! 

Anna's birthday is this month, so I'll start with her.  After being the easiest baby and toddler, she's still great... but I can tell that she is turning two.  She is starting to show her opinion on topics and she gets emotional when she doesn't get her way sometimes.  She loves food still and will eat almost anything.  She loves going out to eat... we don't do it often (logistically taking kids out to eat is very stressful for me!), but when we do go out, she will eat the spiciest Thai food or snack on my salad.  She loves to play with her stuffed animals, read books with me, play with toys, dig in the dirt, play in the water table, or do anything her brothers are doing.  She's so sweet and we love her to pieces.

She didn't want to get out of the tub...

Making sure the Rock N Play is ready for baby...

 Playing in dirt...

 Sweet sleep..

 Splash park!

Luke is growing up!  He talks so well.  He's all the time singing a song (often times one that he made up!).  Sometimes he sings a little too passionately and we have to calm him down.  He's totally potty trained now and that's such a relief... Hopefully he doesn't regress once baby arrives.  He is still sweet, but he is also very stubborn.  When he doesn't get what he wants, he can really have a breakdown which is difficult for all of us... But we are all learning how to work through those better.  He wants to do everything James can do... So he is advanced in some areas for this reason but he also gets frustrated when he can't do the same things a 5 year old can do.  He loves to kiss and hug my belly and he's very excited about his baby brother.  In the mornings, he cuddles in bed with me and we both love it!  Since Anna and James are close, I hope that Luke and this baby can kinda be buddies.
Mornings with Luke...

 Sweet boy... He had pink eye for the first time a couple of months ago...

 The child sleeps hard...

James finished preschool a couple of weeks ago and it was so sad for me!  He had an amazing teacher this year and he grew so much.  He loves learning.  When I get the opportunity to work one on one with him, he just soaks it all up.  His teacher assured me that he would thrive in public school next year and I hope that's the case!  He does incredibly well as long as he has a job... It's when he has free time that he gets in trouble.  I'm going to try to give him as many jobs and responsibilities as possible this summer.  He loves the garden and watching it grow.  He is finally starting to listen better when it comes to following instructions, but it takes a lot of consistent effort on my part to make this happen.  He typically wakes up first from naps (he still naps from 1/1:30 until 3:30/4:30 each day).  When he wakes up, we usually have "mom and James time" where we will cook something, play a board game, or do something else fun together that's difficult to do with Anna and Luke around.  We both love this time. 
He still wants to be a doughnut maker when he grows up...

 Chutes and Ladders is his favorite game right now...

 Mrs. Hart took excellent care of his crazy self this year!

 His sweet preschool class!

These kids are wild... But I love them!

It's going to be interesting to see how #4 flows in with the crazy!